Paper cup dispensers



Oct. 18, 1950 P. E. AUSTGEN EI'AL PAPER CUP DISPENSERS Filed Dec. 19, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 f7 gi AUTOR/VFY Oct. 18, 1950 P. E. AusTGEN ErAL 2,956,706

PAPER CUP DISPENSERS Filed Dec. 19, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent PAPER CUP DISPENSERS Paul E. Austgen, 111 S. Wendiermere, Littleton, and Frank J. Sonheim, 2901 S. Corona St., Englewood, Colo.; Helen M. Austgen, administratrix of Paul E. Austgen, deceased; said Helen M. Austgen assignor to herself, individually Filed Dec. 19, 195s, ser. No. '131,499I

7 Claims. (cli-2214,14)y

causes the cups to adhere together in the nested pile and Y make it dillicult for an automatic machine to individually and positively dispense the cups without damage.,

The principal object of this invention is to provide a cup dispensing Vmechanism which will continuously, indi# vidually yand positively remove the lowermost .cuprfrom a nested pile of cups Without duplication and without danger of adherence between the cups in the pile.4 l

Another object of the invention is to provide a machine of this character in which a plurality .of piles or stacks of nested cups may be employed and` which will act, when the cups of the first stack have been exhausted, to transi fer the `operation to the next successive stack Vso that Va Y maximum number of cups maybe accommodated .in the,

machine with a minimum of height. v

A further object of the invention is to provide a paper cup dispensing mechanism which can be readily incorpon rated into any type Iof coin actuated dispensing machineYA with a minimum of labor and expense.

YThe invention relates more specifically to the cup dispensing mechanism. Portions of a cup fillingmechanisrn have been illustrated only sufliciently to show the relation of the cup dispenser thereto.

In the drawing: Fig. 1 is a plan view of the improved cup dispensing mechanism applied to a vending machine;

Fig. 2 is a side View thereof;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of the actuating mech. Y

anism of the machine; I

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail top view of a cup dispensing slider employed in the improved dispenser;

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section through the slider of i Fig. 4, taken on the line 5 5, Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is a cross section through the slider taken on the The device is designed for dispensing a round tapered f paper cup 30 of a conventional type having a rolled upper s edge flange. The cup dispensing mechanism maybe ap- Y plied to a vendingmachine for dispensing loose bulk material, such as popcorn, in paper cups. The improved cup dispensing device is mounted upon an elongated, rectangular, opened-top, metallic base pan 10, the bottom of which, indicated at 11, terminates short of one extrem-V ity of the pan toiprovide a dispensing opening 12. A

cover plate 13 is secured to and extends inwardly from one sideV of the top of the pan 10. The cover plate 13 is provided with an inside edge flange 14 which extends downwardly to rest upon the bottom 11 in parallel spaced relation with the other side of the box to provide a longitudinally extending guide channel. A gate box 15 is positioned in and arranged to reciprocate longitudinally of the guide channel.

ia-iented oct. is, 1960 The gate box 15 has an inverted-U-shape to provideV a closed top with two supporting side plates 17 and a material receiving pocket 18 on the bottom 11. The material to be dispensed is fed into the pocket 18 from any suitable feed hopper, such as indicated in broken line at 19.

It can be seen that, as the gate box 15 moves to the right in Fig. l, it will force a pre-measured amount of material lto the right so that the material will fall through the dispensing opening 12 and when it returns to the position at Fig. 1, additional material will tlow from the feed hopper 19 into the pocket 18 in advance of the next reciprocation to the right. To prevent material from flowing from the pocket, a horizontally hinged, swinging gate 20` is provided and the forwardvextremities of the two side plates 17 are hooked inwardly about the gate so that when the gate box 15 moves to the position in Fig. 1, the swinging 4` Vgate will be closed and held closed and, as the gate box Two vertical cup stack frames 29 are secured on and yarise moves to the discharge position, the gate will be released' to allow it to be pushed open by the discharging ma` terial.

The gate box 1.5 may be reciprocated in any desired vmanner depending upon the particular machine upouV which the dispenser is to be used. lAs illustrated, the gate box 15 is reciprocated from a crank 21 through the mediurn of a connecting rod 22, one extremity of which is" `pivotally mounted beneath the top of the gate box in a supplying the pa'per cups 30 to receive the material being p dispensed by the sliding gate box 15. The cup dispensing j mechanism is mounted on a rectangular frame box 28 having an open top and open bottom, which is secured A on the base pan 10 over the dispensing opening 12 therein.

:from lthe frame box 28. These stack frames may have any suitable construction for supporting a vertical nested stack Iof the paper cups 30. As illustrated, they Vcomprise annular bands 31 which support the stack frames 29 verti- I i cally about the stacked cups 30.

A pair of panallel, horizontal channel tracks 32 are i mounted` on the Vframe box 28 below and at each side of the first stack frame and a similar pair of channel tracks 33 is similarly mounted below the second stack frame. A

,y Ushaped cup dispensing slider 34, such as shown in detall in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, is slidably mounted in the first pair of tracks 32 and a similar slider 35 is slidably mounted in the second pair of tracks 33.

The sllders 34 and 35 are similar in construction and l of opposite hand and each comprises a cross head Vmember, designated by the slider reference number, below which two channel leg members 36 are secured. The

channel leg members 36 project forwardly from a head i 'be designated by the numeral 37 and the bottom llange v`thereof will be designated by the numeral 3S. The top t adjacent each of the cross head members, as shown at flange 37 is cut back adjacent the outer extremity of each leg member, as shown at 39, to expose thebottom llange 38, and the bottom ange 38 is similarly cut back 40, to expose the top ange 37.

A U-shaped, ltilting yoke '41 overlies the cross head member of each slider and extends forwardly and downwardly, at each side, over the forward edge of the cross head member, as shown at 42, thence outwardly and forwardly beneath the top ange 37 of each leg member 36 and over the cut back 40 in the bottom flange 38 to form two cup prying legs 43. The cup prying legs 43 are angle-shaped in cross section and yare maintained in close resilient contact against the bottoms of the top leg anges 37 by means of a tensed tension spring 44 which is connected to the yoke, as shown at 45, and to the head member, as shown at 46. Each tilting yoke 41 carries a downwardly projecting lever member 48 which, when the slider approaches its foremost position strikes an abutment or fixed tilting pin 49 in the frame box to tilt the prying legs 43 downwardly as shown in broken line in Fig. 5.

When the sliders 34 and 35 are in their rearward positions, as shown in Fig. l, the rim ange of the lowermost cup 30 in each stack will rest upon the bottom anges 38 of the leg members 36, as indicated by the broken circles A in Fig. 4 supporting the entire stack of cups. Should a slider be forced forwardly, the rim flange of the lowermost cup 30 will drop through the cut backs 40 `in the Ibottom anges 38 and the next-above cup will be supported on the top leg flanges 37. As the slider returns to the rearward position, the rim ange of the next cup will drop to the bottom leg flanges 38 through the cut backs 39 in the top anges. The released cup drops through the frame box 28 and through the base pan dispensing opening 12 into any suitable receiving hopper, as indicated in broken line at 47. Should the lowermost cup stick to the next uppermost cup, it will be forced away therefrom, by the downward tilting action of the cup prying legs 43, when the lever member 48 strikes the tilting pin 49.

The sliders 34 and 35 may be reciprocated in their channel tracks 32 and 33 in any desired manner. As illustrated, the slider 34 is reciprocated to dispense cups until the tirst nested stack has been exhausted. The first slider 34 will then come to rest and the slider 35 will be brought into action to dispense the cups from the second stack of cups. This is accomplished by placing oppositely opening notches 50 in the adjacent ends of the cross head members of the sliders, there being one notch in each head member into either of which an upstanding reciprocating post 51 may engage. The post 51 is mounted on the forward extremity of a reciprocable slide bar 52.

The slide bar 52 is slidably supported in a swinging guide frame 53 pivoted at 54 on the bottom 11 of the base pan 10. Reciprocation is imparted to the slide bar 52 from a channel-shaped rocker member 55 pivoted at 56 on the bottom 11. The rocker member 55 lis oscillated by means of an eccentric cam 59 on the crank shaft 25 which alternately engages upturned flanges 60 on the sides of the rocker member 55 to oscillate it back and forth about its pivot 56. The rocker member is provided with an elongated slot 61 for the passage of the crank shaft 25. The oscillations of the rocker member 55 are transmitted to the slide bar 52 from a crank pin 62 projecting upwardly from adjacent the extremity of the rocker member. The pin l62 engages in a notch 63 in the slide bar 52.

It can be seen that as the crank shaft 25 rotates, the rocker member 55 will swing back and forth and this back and forth movement will be transmitted by the pin 62 to the slide bar 52 to cause the post 51 to move back and forth between the rst and second sliders 34 and 35i.

The post 51 is constantly urged into engagement with the notch 50 of the first slider 34 by means of a suit-. able compression spring 64 acting against the guide frame 53 and the guide frame can be swung to bring the post 51 into engagement with the notch 50 of the second slider 35 by means of an electrical solenoid 65 mounted on the bottom 11 with its plunger connected with the guide frame 53 as shown at 56, It can be seen that if the solenoid 65 be de-energized, the reciprocations of the slide bar 52 will be transmitted to the irst slider 34 and, if the solenoid -65 be energized, the reciprocations of the slide bar 52 vwill be transmitted to the second slider 35.

The electric current to the solenoid 65 is controlled by a micro-switch 57 supported from the frame box 28 and provided with a feeler 58 which successively engages the rim anges of the descending cup. When the last cup passes the feeler it will be released to cause the microswitch 57 to close the circuit to the solenoid 65 to initiate discharge of the second stack of cups.

While a specific form of the improvement has been described and illustrated herein, it is to be understood that the same may be varied within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed and desired secured by Letters Patent is:

1. Means for dispensing paper cups of the type having a projecting peripheral rim ange comprising: a stack frame adapted to support a nested stack of cups; a pair of horizontal, spaced-apart, parallel channel tracks mounted below said stack frame; a U-shaped cup dispensing slider slidably mounted in said channel tracks; two spaced-apart leg members projecting forwardly from said slider so as to receive the rim flange of a cup suspended therebetween, said leg members being channelshaped in cross section so as to provide a top and a bottom flange on each leg member; a top notch formed in the top ange on each leg member adjacent its forward extremity to allow the rim ange of the lowermost cup in the stack to drop to the bottom flange; a bottom notch formed in each bottom tiange adjacent the rear extremity of each leg to release the rim flange of the lowermost cup when said slider is moved forward- 1y; means for reciprocating said slider forwardly and rearwardly; resiliently supported prying legs positioned above the bottom notches in said lower anges; and means for swinging said prying legs downwardly as the slider moves forwardly to pry the lowermost cup from the stack.

2. Means for dispensing paper cups as described in claim 1 having a second stack frame positioned alongside of said rst stack frame; a second pair of channel tracks positioned below said second stack frame; a second slider, similar to the rst slider, positioned in said second channel tracks alongside of the first slider, there being a notch formed in that side of each slider which is adjacent the other slider; a post member extending upwardly between the two sliders; means for swinging said post member into engagement with either desired notch; and said post member being actuated by said slider reciprocating means so as to selectively transmit reciprocation to either desired slider.

3. Means for dispensing paper cups as described in claim 2, having resilient means urging said post member into engagement with the notch of one slider and electrically actuated means for urging said post member into engagement with the notch of the other slider.

4. Means for dispensing paper cups of the type having a projecting peripheral rim ange comprising: a stack frame adapted to support a nested stack of cups; a pair of horizontal, spaced-apart, parallel channel tracks mounted below said stack frame; a U-shaped cup dispensing slider slidably mounted in said channel tracks; two spaced-apart leg members projecting forwardly from said slider so as to receive the rim ange of a cup suspended therebetween, said leg members being channelshaped in cross section so as to provide a top and a bottom ange on each leg member; a top notch formed in the top flange of each leg member adjacent its forward extremity to allow the rim ange of the lowermost cup in the stack to drop to the bottom ange; a bottom notch formed in each bottom ange adjacent the rear extremity of each leg to release the rim flange of the lowermost cup when said slider is moved forward- Iy; means for reciprocating said slider forwardly and rearwardly; a U-shaped prying member pivotally mounted on said slider; a pair of prying legs extending forwardly from said prying member to a position below said top anges and `above said second notches; spring means urging said prying legs upwardly against said upper flanges; an actuating lever projecting downwardly from said prying member; and a stationary abutment positioned in the forward path of said lever to be engaged by the latter as the slider moves forwardly to cause said prying legs to tilt downwardly to pry the lowermost cup from the stack and force it through said bottom notches.

5. Means for dispensing paper `cups as described in claim 3 having a circuit closing switch in circuit with said electrically-actuated means and a feeler projecting from said switch into contact with cups in the iirst stack so that when the cups in the irst stack are exhausted said switch will close a circuit to said electrically-actuated means to initiate operation of said second slider.

6. Means for dispensing paper cups as described in claim l in which the means for reciprocating said slider forwardly and rearwardly comprises: a guide frame; a reciprocable member mounted in and guided by said guide frame and engaging at its one extremity said slider; a rocker member pivoted at its one extremity and engaging said reciprocable member at its other extremity; and a motor driven cam engaging and oscillating said rocker member to impart reciprocation to said reciprocable member.

7. Means for dispensing paper cups as described in claim 6 in which said guide frame is pivotally mounted and having means for rotating said guide frame about its pivot to swing the rst extremity of said reciprocable member into and out of engagement with said slider.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 816,975 Gilbert Apr. 3, 1906 1,311,170 Lockwood et a1. July 29, 1919 1,666,008 Graifenbuger Apr. l0, 1926 2,730,268 Moesch Jan. 10, 1956 2,834,511 Booth May 13, 1958 

